rhody

My eight white fillings match my molar teeth. The only way you can tell any differences, is to get a few inches away and you can barely (and I mean barely) see subtle color differences. My white fillings have been in for a little more than 10 years with absolutely no problems. I believe that I had porcelain, which is quite durable. I understand that there's quite a variety of white dental restorations materials available. I haven't researched this recently, but I would imagine that there must be greater choices than when I had mine placed in my teeth.

About ten years ago I paid somewhere around $2500 to "change-out" 8 fillings from mercury-silver dental amalgam to white. I paid approximately $1000 out-of-pocket, and the insurance paid the rest - which was the price of the mercury fillings. This is all from memory and the pricing is rough. I hope that helps some.

Note to anyone that hears the old-style gray-black fillings called "silver" from their dentist or other persons, that "silver" fillings are composed of approximately 50% mercury. Silver in the mercury-silver dental amalgam typically is a much smaller amount. I hope the U.S. congress passes the bill HR 1680 to allow consumers to receive this important data every time we visit the dental office, so we don't just think that we are getting silver fillings - that are just silver. Eventually, also these mercury fillings may be banned in the U.S.

Maybe, with a larger interest in white fillings, that manufacturers will provide us with even better and more economical choices. I also hope that these manufacturers review the toxicity of these white fillings, so that we don't have a repeat of problems that we had with mercury fillings - when the mercury constantly leaked. We don't want organic compounds leaking also, if it might cause any risk to health or allergic reaction.

I would suggest that people considering white fillings, try to choose the best materials, that are the strongest. It might be a few dollars more, but for the long run, if it means no problems, you might want to get those. Review the porcelain variety and see if that fits what you are looking for. I had mine put in my teeth in a two step process (between separate dental visits). First they created a mold and I got a temporary filling. Then an outside lab made the white filling. The dentist cemented in the white filling on the following dental visit. I believe that this was done over a three month period. Now, that I know more about mercury fillings, I wonder if the dentist purposely set my dental visits far apart, because he knew I had reactions to these amalgams and most likely the mercury inside them. I went to a naturopath to test any allergies or reactions that I may have to these gold and/or white dental restoration materials, and got those that seemed most compatible. I had tests also for the cementing agents.

My dentist did a super job. I think finding a dentist that knows a lot about this type of cosmetic dentistry is important. I also might mention that it was my own decision to have these fillings replaced. I just decided to do it, since I had a great increase in muscle pain and headaches after one tooth broke and exposed a mercury-silver dental amalgam. Over the years, I've slowly recovered from devastating pain and suffering.